Warmer, drier June doesn’t herald drought, expert says
Austin’s wet winter and early spring help, meteorologist says.
June was warmer and drier than normal in the Austin area, as triple-digit temperatures arrived earlier than usual across Central Texas this year, data from the National Weather Service shows.
The capital city recorded three 100-degree days in June, breaking the century mark on area thermometers a few weeks earlier in the year than when the highs typically do, which is in mid-July. Austin’s weather stations at Camp Mabry and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport recorded the first triple-digit temperatures of the year on June 17, when heat peaked at 101 degrees at Mabry and 100 at the airport.
The hottest day of the year so far in Austin was June 23, when temperatures reached 104 degrees at Camp Mabry and 102 at Austin-Bergstrom, according to the weather service.
However, June’s temperatures were partially offset by a cold front late in the month that brought clouds, some rain and dropped temperatures back into the 80s and lower 90s last weekend and early this week.
The wild weather swings added up to a slightly warmer and drier than normal June for the city. The average high temperature for the month as of Friday came out 2 degrees warmer than usual, clocking in at 94.3 at Camp Mabry.
Meanwhile, June only saw about 3 inches of rainfall, which was about 1.3 inches less than normal.
But Lower Colorado River Authority meteorologist Bob Rose cautioned about reading too much into — well, the readings.
“The kind of weather that we had in June doesn’t really tell us a whole lot about the weather we’re going to have in July,” Rose said. After all, Austin will be transitioning from what is usually its second-wettest month to one of